Gainward’s GTX 465 Good Edition’s cooling isn’t quite inaudible when idle, but it’s quiet enough not to bother you. We could easily hear it during gaming, but the noise was constant and didn’t change like on reference GTX 480 and GTX 470 cards. The info we have says the GTX 465 is quieter than the GTX 470.

Power Consumption

Gainward’s GTX 465 Good Edition draws about the same as the reference GTX 470, which is a direct result of the Gainward’s PCB of choice. The reference GTX 465’s TDP stands at 200W, whereas the GTX 470’s TDP is at 215W.

Our test rig consumed up to 392W with the GTX 465 Good Edition, which is comparable to the same scenario with the GTX 470 onboard – our rig consumed 395W in the latter scenario. Radeon HD 5850 however is much better as our rig drew up to 308W. Idle operation once again crowns the HD 5850, as our rig drew 146W. The same scenario saw the GTX 470 consume 149W whereas Gainward’s GTX 465 Good drew 152W.

GPU temperatures

With no overclocking, Gainward’s GTX 465 hit 87°C, while after clocking this number jumped to 93°C. This is, at the same time, the temperature on reference GTX 470 cards when running 3D. Radeon HD 5850 keeps GPU temperatures at about 41°C when idle, whereas 3D operation pushes it up to 87°C. Idle temperatures on Gainward’s GTX 465 Good Edition were at 41°C, which means that temperatures are pretty much identical to those on HD 5850 cards.

Overclocking

As you can see from the following results, after overclocking Gainward’s GTX 465 Good Edition, the card scored similarly to the GTX 470.